You will want to have a clean trout to be able to enjoy the soft tender meat of your catch. Besides the fishing itself you must prepare the trout for whatever you decide to do next. In any case the trout needs to be cleaned to protect it from being spoiled or damaged and to provide a good tasting meal either now or in the future. If you plan to cook the trout right away or if you plan on freezing it and cooking it later, you will want to know how to clean trout either way. To clean a trout follow the steps below.

Items/Tools you will need to clean trout:

Sharp fillet knife

Cutting board

Garbage/Trash/Waste receptacle/Waste bucket

Optional tools:

Fillet glove for extra grip

Fillet board with tail clip for stability

Scaling knife

Spoon

You may wish to scale the trout if you plan on eating the skin of the trout. Some people prefer to scale it before cooking the trout with the skin on but it is not a necessity. Biting into a scale is not pleasant when eating the tender meat of your trout however trout scales are quite small and not as bad as other fish.

To Scale Trout:

Hold firmly by the tail or use a fillet board with clip.

Using a scaling knife or the back of a fillet knife scrape firmly against the skin from the tail to the head a few times on both sides of the fish to scale trout.

Rinse with clean water.

How To Clean Trout:

Scale trout first

Place trout on cutting board

Insert tip of knife into fish gut cavity at anus

cut upward towards gills along the belly of the trout taking care not to cut into guts/entrails

Grab the gills firmly and rip down the fish towards the anus taking all of the attached entrails out of the fish

Dispose of entrails in the waste bucket or you can bury them 3 feet deep next to trees in your yard for extra nutrition for them.

Optional: At this point you may wish to cut off the head (some people like to leave it intact when cooking the trout).

To cut off the head of your trout simply lay the trout on its side, grip it firmly at the middle of the fish and cut through the spine and body (perpendicular to the previous cut) just below the gill area leaving you just the body where the good meat is

Using your finger or the optional spoon scrape away the blood vein along the inside of the spine of the trout

Rinse the inside and outside of the fish with clean water

Now you know how to clean trout!

Note: Your trout can now be cooked just the way it is. Once cooked the meat slides right off the bones and out of the skin with no effort at all.

You may continue on with filleting the trout depending on your style of cooking.